First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $18.48, but opened at $19.80. First Majestic Silver shares last traded at $20.1590, with a volume of 3,035,073 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AG shares. Weiss Ratings lowered First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of First Majestic Silver from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on First Majestic Silver from $23.00 to $22.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.83.

First Majestic Silver Stock Up 11.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.38. The firm has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.06 and a beta of 0.94.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $415.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $496.00 million. First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 21.18%.First Majestic Silver’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.0152 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.45%.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,995,222 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $316,914,000 after buying an additional 945,067 shares during the last quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co raised its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 238,500 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,986,000 after purchasing an additional 80,000 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,898,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the first quarter valued at about $2,593,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in First Majestic Silver by 127.6% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 182,238 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,905,000 after purchasing an additional 102,167 shares during the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.